International Students
Living in Melbourne.
People & Cultures
Multiculturalal Melbourne
Melbourne’s multicultural diversity has influenced a lifestyle reflecting a love of fine dining, the arts and music, combined with a passion for the great outdoors and sport.
Melbourne’s population of five million is the result of a long history of migration from countries all over the world. It mirrors Australian immigration over the years – southern European countries provided 37 per cent of overseas-born people who arrived prior to 1981, while one in every two migrants arriving since 1981 has come from Asia, with the majority from Southeast Asian countries.
One in four Melburnians was born in another country. English is the official language, but more than 30 per cent of Melburnians – speak a language other than English at home, and most major languages have thousands of native speakers.
Melbourne has resident Chinese, Greeks, Italians, Indians, Americans, French, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Japanese and South Africans. In all, representatives of more than 200 countries, speaking at total of 180 different languages and dialects, have made their home in the capital. The city has the third-largest Greek community in the world, and one of the largest Italian communities outside Italy. The top five languages (other than English) spoken in Victoria are Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Arabic.
More than 17,000 international students, mainly from Asia, currently study in Melbourne’s universities.
For information on multicultural support networks available, go to the support networks section of this website.
The history
Aboriginal Victoria
Prior to European settlement in Victoria, there were around 38 Aboriginal language groupings – and within each group were many clans.
The people of the Kulin Nation are believed to have lived in Melbourne for at least 40,000 years and possibly longer. Since that time Aboriginal people have maintained an intense and unbroken relationship with the land. Today, more than 25,000 Aboriginal people live throughout Victoria and this number is growing. Tribal boundaries are recognised today, and are the basis of native title claims under the Commonwealth Government’s Native Title Act.
European Settlement
Europeans settled Melbourne on the banks of the Yarra River in 1835 when Victoria was part of the British colony of New South Wales. In 1851, the colony of Victoria was separated from New South Wales, becoming the Australian State of Victoria. In 1901, Australia celebrated its federation, becoming a separate country from Great Britain.
